Chapter 4: Collaborative Environmental Management and Public Participation

Chapter 4 Discussion Questions
Chapter 4 Exercises
Extending the Discussion of Chapter
References with Weblinks

Summary:
Environmental planning in the United States has evolved to embrace participatory and collaborative approaches to enhance public acceptability, resolve conflicts, and develop creative solutions to problems. In many cases, it has improved public involvement in environmental decision making and provided increased opportunities for dialogue and discourse among stakeholders. Stakeholders include those who are creating change (e.g., developers, industry, governmental agencies), as well as those who are affected by it (e.g., citizens, neighborhoods, communities, and groups representing them and the environment).

Collaborative processes have been applied in a wide range of environmental planning endeavors, including local comprehensive and land use planning, collaborative development and design, watershed and ecosystem management, habitat conservation planning, and negotiated regulation, among others. While experience has shown potential for improved decision making and decisions, much needs to be learned about what works effectively and what does not. Collaborative approaches take time and resources, as well as the appropriate social and situational context, and often barriers stand in the way of successful application.

As a result, collaborative and participatory processes must be designed with care to limit or overcome those barriers. Processes and procedures should consider a number of factors related to who should participate when and how. Much depends on the problem situation or objectives and the political and social context. A wide array of tools is available to engage stakeholders. Some, like newsletters and public hearings, emphasize information transfer, and others, like stakeholder workshops and advisory committees, stress dialogue, involvement, and joint decision making. Although the former are important in all participation programs, the latter are essential if the process is to be truly collaborative.

The goal of collaborative planning is an acceptable, creative decision, but the objective of collaborative management also includes successful adoption and implementation. Stakeholder groups should also apply their political capital to the adoption and implementation of collaborative decisions. Stakeholders often participate in implementation through volunteer environmental improvement efforts, such as stream restoration, tree planting, and water quality monitoring.

Chapter 4 Discussion Questions

1. Briefly explain how "collaborative planning" differs from conventional public participation.

Chapter 4 Exercises:

Putnam and others suggest there has been a decline in civic engagement in communities across the U.S. Consulting the websites of local governments and civic organizations in your region or community, how would you assess the level of citizen engagement where you live? Use the levels of participation given in Figure 4.1 as a guide.

1. Outline a public participation/collaboration program design for the following planning projects or issues, including the key questions of what, who, when and how:
a community comprehensive or general plan
b. siting plan for a solid waste transfer facility
c. facilities development and conservation plan for newly purchased city parkland
d. restoration and protection plan for an urban stream

2. Participatory design methods have brought stakeholders into the process of community design and have enhanced participation through visualization. Explore various websites cited in chapter 4 and assemble a small portfolio of applications of these visualization and design methods, perhaps in a PowerPoint format. See, for example: www.GreenMap.org, Calthorpe Associates, www.nelessen.org, California Local Government Commission, and www.Urban-Advantage.com.

3. Go to the Internet and tour the Participation and Partnerships in Planning on-line tutorial at http://www.uap.vt.edu/cdrom/default.htm. Check out the case examples and the participation tools described in the tutorial.

4. Using the Internet or other sources, Identify another case example of local participation in planning, perhaps from your local area or another area of interest. Using the format provided in the tutorial, write a two page critical review of the case, addressing the participation objectives and process, the participants, and the tools used.

Extending the discussion of Chapter 4:

• An interesting example of grassroots involvement for environmental protection and neighborhood livability is the use of EcoTeams. Developed by Global Action Plan, an arm of the Empowerment Institute in New York, EcoTeams have been used in several cities to engage residents in improving their communities. See the EcoTeams website http://www.empowermentinstitute.net/Files/EI_Frameset4.htm, and write a one-page critical review of the program, describing the approach and an example. Be sure to look at the "research studies and media" link on the website for relevant information.